February 2011

Gak. Yik. Gross. Gross Me Blue: • Industry insiders say there's a dirty, little secret that needs to be exposed. The problem they say is dirty beer lines, the lines connect the keg to the tap. "It's one of the big, big problems in the industry," Luke Purcell, of Great Lakes Brewing said. Purcell …

I knew this. I think I knew this anyway: • "This process is much like how you would do in a fourth-grade germination science project, where the grains would be soaked in water for about 24 hours, drained and then laid between sheets of cloth until they sprouted," said Amanda Mummert, an …

Again, with the exhibits for your consideration: • Russia: "Normalising the beer production market and classifying it as alcohol is totally the right thing to do and will boost the health of our population," Yevgeny Bryun, the ministry of health's chief specialist on alcohol and drug abuse, said …

Snowman: I am evil. • Sea Devil: Me, too. • Sea based Silurians and or over caffeinated snowmen? Which is more evil? Which will be our future overlords? Masters of the winter or the secret lizard army of the deep? These beers from Beau's beg these questions. Soon, you will have to choose. Soon …

Just in case you do not read Lew or Troy (which is inexplicable if you are reading this blog) I, too, post this for your consideration: • That is the two-term Premier of the Province of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty. He's released this video statement along with a number of proposals on how our … read more »

Exhibit A: I hate the poncey, arrogant, cicerone crap. If there has ever been a greater crime committed in the name of wine-ifying beer, I don’t know what it is. • Exhibit B: I've always hated it too, because it's boring as hell. And what is this supposed "Belgian" character? • For a social …

She: (In Icelandic) ...he appears to be taking a photo of that beer... • He: (In Icelandic) I wish I had the daring to do such things. • Discounting Yorkshire, Iceland is the first Scandinavian country that I’d ever visited. I’m a chilly mortal. Why would I choose to holiday in the frozen … read more »

It doesn't take much to excite a Canadian. A roadside chain hotel in central New York with a pool to placate the kids. A grocery store with a great selection of beer and many other things at great prices. I am moved to haiku. • Grocery store beer • Bests Our Government Store's shelves …

Canada is big. You knew that, right? So, when a pal takes a plane for hours and hours to the other end of the nation and is good enough to bring back a few, well, all the beer labels may as well be written in Hungarian. You never see this things back here. Happy then was I to be handed a Phillips …

That is what I would call this document from the World Health Organization instead of the rather dull Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2011. I had no idea that over 50% of Andorran women did not drink. Why did Canadian drinking peak around 1982 while it happened 20 years later in the UK …

Let's be honest. The stash is an extension of one's own day dreams and we know that such dreams can vary. Sure, there are the questions of reasonable budget and reasonable storage but there is the need to have balance. At this point in the winter, for example, I am a little light on hop bomb IPAs …

It must be Australia week and, finally, a story that is not so much about weird culture as a weird misappropriation of science. Apparently officials in the Australian state of Victoria are not interested in following up on the idea of introducing a far lower blood alcohol content (BAC) limit …

One of these days, I need to consolidate all these odd news items I post about Australia from time to time under its very own tag. It would take me half a second but I think I suspect that each odd tale would be my last. Then there is another like this one: • Beer has become what Innisfail …

The symposium on sucking continues here and there and maybe elsewhere. Regular contributor made this comment and it, too, got me thinking: • I do think all too often writers (beer- and other) are incautious in their use of derogatory terms- superlatives, too. I make it a habit never to hit …

This is an interesting idea from a beer writer in Alabama - the relationship of sucking and beer production: • The internet has once again given us an important topic for discussion: whether or not “that brewery sucks.” My friend Sean Lilly Wilson recently wrote a thought-provoking post bearing …

I like Troy and Cass as much as anyone and consider them a two-headed monster that has pushed and pulled and tugged Ontario into the good beer revolution as much as anyone else in recent years. But I can't go along with Troy's approval of Cass's post entitled "Bring On the Expensive Beer": • Not …

There is simply not enough beer and science photography going around. So it was with some relief that I saw the image apparently from the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) attached to this story from the BBC. • At first I thought it was stock photography pasted onto a story about …

Political culture is a weird thing. It doesn't translate well from nation to nation and leaving the words associated with themselves rather meaningless. Conservative or liberal? Anarchist or patriot? Who know what any of this stuff means? Yet, there are moments when you know that being a Canadian …

I don't usually have a beer or anything much on Sunday or the first half of the week for that matter. One of the things that keeps me from wanting to move into more professional beer writing, consulting and that sort of thing is having to drink and attend and consider every day of the week. I have …

I park well. Well, I park well in Toronto at least. I have found a way to get right into the heart of the city and out by car without spending all that much time in, you know, the city. And, as it turns out, my trick now comes with a brew pub, Duggan's Brewery. I won't tell you which building it … read more »

Life dashes. Then it sprints. Then it tears away from you looking back and giving you a rude gesture. The Session has become a marker for me, telling me about the pace of my life over its last four years of existence, reminding me that I need to fill each month with something worth doing or …

Big news out of Lyme Regis in Dorset, England as they are reviving or at least reinterpreting a festival that ended back in 1610. • The ale will be in full flow at Lyme Regis when the town hosts its first beer festival in 400 years. A festival called The Cobb Ale started in Lyme in the 14th …

Did I say "ever"? I suppose I did. I suppose it is because this news combines such a sense of bean counting, superiority, triviality and, frankly, sheer sadness so as to define a point which we may have reached. I quote in reasonable fullness: • ...West Linn-Wilsonville School District teachers …

Alan is apparently a Gen X-er who has hit 40... err...44... err... 45... YIKES... 46 ... [ZOW-WEE!!] 48... jessh, now 51... and edits and writes about other stuff at his personal website Gen X at 40. Please email Alan or any of the authors at this blog's gmail account - please write if you want to join the ranks of authors of this site or just want to send in a story on your favorite beer or photo of your regular pub.

I have moved the content of the OCB Commentary Wiki here. It is now a static document and pretty much is locked in as understandings existed as of 2012. Probably needs its own wiki to update the content! Below are the original introductory remarks:

"The purpose of this wiki is to collectively make comments, add annotation, identify errata and suggest further sources to the text of The Oxford Companion to Beer. Members are asked to avoid comment about the authors, the structure of the text or other extraneous matters. This wiki is a not for profit project that reviews the text pursuant to the concept of "fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review" under Canadian copyright law." Alan McLeod, wiki Organizer, and chief bottle washer at A Good Beer Blog. Motto? "Many hands make pleasant work." Alan McLeod, 25 October 2011. Please provide some information about yourself when making a request to join the wiki. Anonymous requests for membership will not be approved. Overly ardent and rudely put claims to authority will be cause for removal from the membership. As of 11 January 2012, 134 entries or 12.2% of the total of 1,100 received commentary, many with multiple comments. Eight of the photos have been corrected as well. That number rose to 151 by 13 May 2012.